Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Is Making A Terrible Mistake

If somebody offered you $67 million to never touch a decent hamburger again, would you take the money?

To us mere mortals, there probably isn't much we wouldn't do to save sixty-something million in taxes. But I still can't shake the feeling that Eduardo Saverin's decision to renounce his American citizenship—and very likely his ability to ever cross customs into our fair land again—is incredibly short-sighted. All arguments aside about whether he's saying sayonara to his citizenship for tax reasons or not (and his lawyers' predictably claim he's not), or whether what he's doing is right or fair, it just seems like a bad idea from a simple math perspective.

Let's say Saverin has got roughly $3 billion in Facebook stock. News reports indicate he's saving just $67 million of that by saying goodbye to America on the eve of Facebook's IPO. That's just 2.2 percent of his total wealth.

Now if Saverin has any desire at all to fund new start-ups or work in the tech world in any capacity in the future, it seems like being able to step foot in San Francisco or Seattle would be worth more than 2.2 percent of his holdings. Saverin's cash currently gives him an enormous amount of leverage to do business. By isolating himself from the United States—and much of the country's business community—he's effectively crippling his ability to take advantage of this leverage.

That's not to mention the collateral damage his decision is likely to have to his own brand. One gets the feeling that the PR hit Saverin is currently experiencing will leave him, to some degree, as damaged goods. It's not hard to see some American businesses as unwilling to work with Saverin in the future, due to the possibility of a PR backlash. Whether he likes it or not, Saverin is going to be a walking, talking stand-in for tax dodgers and tax shelters, and there's a real possibility that it could become politically dangerous for companies to work with him in the future.

And then there's another simple fact: For just 2.2 percent of his wealth, Saverin is giving up the ability to ever taste a decent hamburger again. Though I suppose with that kind of cash, he could just have a cow and chef flown directly into Singapore.